WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd April, 2021) US companies have to cover most of the estimated $2.5 trillion required for the so-called "greening" of the economy and the infrastructure needed for job creation into the next generation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday.
"The investment needed to green our economy is enormous," Yellen said in a speech to the Washington-based Institute of International Finance. "The Jobs Plan provides critical funds via direct investments and tax credits - but meeting the total cost over the next ten years will require substantially more."
Yellen pointed out that one estimate placed the needed incremental investments at over $2.5 trillion for the United States alone.�
"Private capital will need to fill most of that gap," she added.
President Joe Biden has announced an estimated $2.3 trillion infrastructure development program that will be the foundation to his "American Jobs Plan". Biden has proposed to increase the US corporate tax to 28 percent from 21 percent to help foot the bill.
But Republicans vehemently oppose Biden's and the Democrats' spending plans, saying only a fraction of the cost will go to infrastructure and the balance will be wasteful allocations that could lead to hyperinflation. The president has since offered to make concessions on the size of the bill and held talks with lawmakers from both sides to try and achieve a consensus.
Biden is also backing a largely-green energy policy, relying on solar, wind and other renewable sources of energy versus fossil fuels that include coal, oil and natural gas. His administration is pushing to halve US emissions by 2030 under its target for the Paris Climate Agreement and intends to achieve "net-neutrality" on carbons by 2050.
Aside from some protests within his party, Biden's radical environmental makeover has drawn him into a battle with the attorney generals of 14 Republican-run states, who have filed lawsuits against the US president's moratorium on new drilling for oil and gas on publicly-owned leases.
